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2.
My call to all Ugandans
feelings of care, of belonging, of
wanting to see our people flourish,
come out of poverty, and be healthy,
that so many of us attend such an
event, determined to get involved, to
make a difference. This desire to ‘do
our bit’ is the best foundation from
which to start putting down the first
building blocks.
Uganda abounds with opportunities. I
do not think that lack of capital should
deter anyone from getting involved.
More and more, the government and
other institutions, as well as new
laws, make it easier for anyone to set
up business or invest in partnership
with others, in so many ways and in
so many different sectors.
Willy Mutenza - Chairman
I
t is a great pleasure for me to
write these few words about the
momentous event that has been
the 2nd Uganda Convention UK
, that took place on 15th September
12 in London .
We have been truly blessed to have
had so many outstanding speakers
and guests, and very many delegates,
who hold Uganda dear to their hearts.
Without this love and dedication
to our home country, an event such
as the convention would be a futile
exercise indeed.
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It is precisely because we have these
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All investment and activities, however
small they appear to be, do make a
difference on the ground in Uganda
. We all know how microfinance
can turn a family’s welfare around,
where the most pressing hardships are
eradicated in a very short time.
In her wonderful book ‘My life’s
Journey, Janet Museveni mentions
that mindsets need to change in order
for change to take place on the ground.
Ugandans in the Diaspora have that
power to change mindsets back in
Uganda . They have seen, learnt and
lived many new ways of life and
work, which could all be the keys
needed back home to open and enrich
minds in ways that money could never
achieve. Shared knowledge can be
just as precious as capital investment.
After hearing our guests speak, I trust
that no one has any doubt any more that
the whole of Uganda is calling on its
‘scattered children’ across the world
to come back and plant some seeds
of the enriching lessons and harvests
they have gathered in those far away
lands. It is our love for our country
that will ensure Uganda will flourish.
Not one of us should rest easy until
we have all made a difference, small
or big, even if it just to ensure that a
young child can remain in school for
one year, or provide a bicycle for a
District Nurse.
I am filled with complete confidence
that much will be achieved, following
this Convention. I want to encourage
every single one of you to aspire to
make a difference to the future of
Uganda . We owe it to all our brothers
and sisters in Uganda , we owe it to
ourselves, and we owe it to the world.
Willy Mutenza
Chairman
Uganda Convention-UK
Mobile: +447790 647 089
Email:
info@ugandanconventionuk.org
Website:
www.ugandanconventionuk.org
Videos:
www.youtube.com/user/ugandansinuk
Summary report | Comments and Evaluation | Action Plan

3.
Transcript of the
Rt Hon. Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga
Speaker of the Ugandan Parliament
information on ﬁve areas of opportunities
available for the delegates to tap in:
The Speaker noted that the 50th anniversary of
Uganda’s independence was an opportunity for
people to reﬂect on who they are and what they
can do for themselves and their country. She
reminded delegates that when we received the
instruments of ofﬁce in 1962, we did not expect
our citizens to live abroad permanently. “But
circumstances of different kind forced people
of Uganda to leave the country to settle initially
perhaps only temporarily, which later became
more permanent”, she lamented.
Hon. Kadaga reminded delegates that many
Ugandans living abroad have studied and made
careers there, and have therefore developed
much capacity in ﬁnances and technologies.
And that they should now harness joint
resources and make a difference in the country.
She reported that the Government of Uganda
had responded by facilitating dual citizenship
for Ugandans, thereby facilitating work and
investment in either or both countries.
Hon. Kadaga invited them to market Uganda,
to speak for Uganda, to invest in Uganda but
more importantly to visit Uganda.
The Rt. Hon. Speaker then proceeded to share
The Rt. Hon Speaker reminded delegates of
the opportunities in the oil, gas, mining and
energy areas.
Rt. Hon. Speaker informed delegates that
Uganda’s unique placement in the area had
turned it into a food basket for the region.
With a favourable climate and great seasons,
there are many opportunities in commercial
agriculture and also in food processing.
Hon. Kadaga invited delegates to take interest in
the banking industry which is one of the fastest
She assured them that the aviation industry in
Uganda continues to grow. Uganda is serviced
by over 14 airlines and plans are under way
to attract more airlines through the planned
expansion of the airport, as well as improving
other facilities needed there.
The local transport industry is another area she
identiﬁed as growing. In the absence of public
government transport, this is an area they could
consider, especially for Kampala, Jinja and
other towns. She also advised them to consider
the rail industry.
Hon. Kadaga singled out industrialisation as the
most important sector for them to get interested
in. She said that for far too long, Uganda has
sent raw materials into the market, but now
was important for Uganda to export ﬁnished
products. She therefore called upon delegates
to invest in industries that will not only support
agriculture but will also create markets and
employment opportunities for the millions of
Ugandans who are unemployed.
Hon. Kadaga informed the convention that
Uganda has the advantage of a fairly educated
population, possibly not very skilled in certain
technologies but she was conﬁdent that
Ugandans are very adaptable. She invited
delegates to invest in higher education,
polytechnics and vocation schools. She added
that if one invested in education in Uganda,
they would have an advantage throughout East
Africa because many people from Rwanda,
Kenya, Sudan and Tanzania study in Uganda,
still the education destination of choice in the
East African community.
The Rt. Hon. Speaker concluded her address
by thanking everybody for listening to her. She
called upon the ministers present to elaborate
on the areas that the delegates wanted to learn
about. She ended by reiterating her delight
to be at the convention and that all she had
shared was for God and her country.
Video at: www.youtube.com/user/ugandansinuk
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“Fellow Ugandans” Hon Kadaga said, “I also
want to thank you all in the Diaspora for the
contribution to our economy which we cannot
take for granted. We really want to thank you
for your support.”
The Rt Hon Speaker shared some statistics
about Uganda’s population and housing sector:
The population of Uganda is growing at a rate
of 3.2 % which means that the bulk of the
population is below 35 years. These are young
people, most of them in the lower and middle
income group, will need houses
Currently, Uganda has a deﬁcit of more than
2million housing units just for the urban areas
although it is a fact that this population will need
schools, quality hospitals and quality recreation
facilities
The oil industry which has recently been
discovered will bring new opportunities. Uganda
expects to receive more expatriates with their
families and their support services. They will
need satellite cities in different parts of Uganda,
facilities unique to them, opportunities that she
would like delegates to explore
Uganda has become the UN regional ofﬁce
for Africa. This presents opportunities as they
require ofﬁce space, housing and sports and
other facilities.
She informed delegates that Government is
constructing the Entebbe-Kampala express
highway to minimise inconvenience to travellers
on that route. She said the government is
expected to construct additional facilities like
ﬂyovers within the city and in other towns to
ease their movements so that they are not
inconvenienced.
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he Speaker of the Parliament of Uganda,
Rt. Hon. Rebecca Kadaga started her
address by extending greetings to the
delegates from the President, Parliament and
the people of Uganda.
The Tourism Industry, where for example
lodges can be set up along the crater lakes
of the Rift Valley; or along Lake Nyatoto, the
Kazinga channel and the hills of Bunyaruguru.
She mentioned the rich and unique history of
various kingdoms that could be marketed as
well, especially the Karamoja area, where the
First Lady has done a good job to bring up the
welfare of these people. The Karamoja people
have a unique way of life with a rich heritage
and she urged delegates to take an interest
in the Karamoja area and visit it. Uganda has
Lake Victoria, Lake George, Lake Kyoga,
Lake Edward and the River Nile and boat
cruises and water rafting are still unexploited
possibilities. She called on delegates to take
interest in the water transport and in leisure
boats on all the lakes.
growing sectors in the Ugandan economy.

4.
Transcript of the
H.E. Mrs. Janet Kataaha Museveni,
First Lady of the Republic of Uganda and Minister for Karamoja Affairs
They set to work with the cooperation of
the UPDF, who reinforced the disarmament
exercise by including the Karamojong
elders who, in turn, helped by mobilising
the youth for peace. The police galvanised
the numbers to ensure that law and order
was in place and Local Defence Units
(LDUs) were trained by police to ensure that
communication at the grassroots was easy,
as LDUs were Karamojong themselves.
As security forces continued to stabilise
villages and communities, they started new
initiatives on food production.
T
he First Lady of Uganda and
Minister for Karamoja Affairs
started her speech by expressing
great pleasure to be at the 2nd
Uganda Convention in UK.
She conveyed greetings from the President
and all the people of Uganda and said it was
gratifying to know that Ugandans in London
are still interested to know about what is
happening in Uganda, and especially in a
corner like Karamoja, which most people
don’t normally really care about.
Hon. Museveni informed the delegates that
she came to the convention in response to
an invitation by the chairman Mr. Willy
Mutenza, to share her experience, successes
and challenges in her work in Karamoja.
The Minister reminded delegates that she
was given this assignment in 2009, when
the region at that time, had just been through
a drought for three years. She said the region
was dry, there was shortage of food but
surprisingly the cattle were not as thin as she
had expected. There was shortage of water
for both people and cattle. The situation was
bleak and people had no hope for anything
to change. She reminded delegates of the
expression that was so common that “the
rest of Uganda cannot wait for Karamoja to
develop”
Mrs Museveni shared that some few years
before she was appointed, the president
has pitched camp in Karamoja for three
month and had launched the disarmament
programme
which
was
on-going.
Unfortunately, she said, the poverty levels
were the engine that drove conﬂict and
insecurity in the region. Therefore, there
was a need to get God’s own wisdom and
inspiration that would breathe life back to
this devastated region of Uganda.
She wondered how many delegates
remembered the biblical story in the book
of Ezekiel Chapter 37, which talks about the
valley of bones.The First Lady said,” If you
know it, you will understand that, if God
could raise the valley of the dry bones into a
standing army of Israel, then Karamoja was
nothing to God, for God can do all things”.
Therefore” she said, “our work in Karamoja
started with a lot of prayer and believing in
God to lead our plans”.
Having recognised that the women who form
the bulk of farmers in Karamoja, as they do
in the rest of Africa, were too weak and too
discouraged to plough and plant enough to
get them out of the vicious cycle of famine
and food relief, they initiated a tractor hire
scheme, whereby a commercial ﬁrm was
brought in to plough, harrow and plant an
agreed acreage for identiﬁed vulnerable
households and women groups to ensure
that they would get adequate quantities of
food. Her ministry, and NAADS, Ministry
Of Agriculture and other donor agencies
supplied seeds and other planting materials.
They started by opening up some 2300 acres
for vulnerable households at that time. In the
last season, they opened up 20,000 acres and
planted food in all the districts of Karamoja.
This is over and above what some farmers
manage to do for themselves.
“Presently”, she said, “some able farmers
make independent arrangements with
commercial farms to hire tractors to open up
land. Others are already asking government
to help them acquire tractors, while others
are beginning to discuss ways they can come
together, as farmer associations can bring in
big harvests, manage their produce better
and obtain better prices on the market for
their produce.
She assured delegates that the mind-set of
the people in Karamoja is already changing
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Her ﬁrst task, Mrs.Museven said, was to
conduct a monitoring tour of all the 41
sub-counties of Karamoja to understand
the development and challenges faced by
these people. Through dialogue with the
grassroots population and communities
interaction, she was exposed to the pains
and suffering of the ordinary families in
Karamoja. “I touched the depth of the
tragedy of many years of isolation of these
communities and the despair of these people
was truly emotionally draining”, she said.
“In my hands, I held children debilitated by
acute malnutrition while talking to mothers
whose only hope was the next supply
of irregular food ration of humanitarian
agencies.
I knew then that we had the responsibility
to get our people out of abject poverty and
to lead them to prosperity where we are as a
country in Uganda now.”
She elaborated that the Ministry of
Karamoja, under the Ofﬁce of the Prime
Minister (OPM) launched a comprehensive
food security plan for Karamoja which
was to consolidate the approach towards a
transformed production system, although
there was need for some emergency
measures. They therefore came up with a
short term solution to get the population back
in the mode of growing food for themselves
instead of relying on food aid.
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The Minister informed delegates that the
Ministry of Water which is responsible for
providing water reservoirs in the country,
has constructed one reservoir per district
in Karamoja. She was hopeful that when
all these water points are completed, there
will be sufﬁcient water for animals and for
irrigation assisted agriculture.
Mrs.Museveni said that in addition, they have
boreholes for domestic use and are working
with UNICEF to ensure repair or drilling
where necessary so that they can ensure
clean water for communities wherever they
may be. They also want to ﬁt solar pumps
on each borehole so that communities can
be empowered to grow vegetables around
the water source using drip irrigation, thus
improving the nutrition status of households
in Karamoja.
On community empowerment, the Minister
reported that they have designed the
program speciﬁcally to try to bridge the
gap left by cattle rustling, which at times
left families too vulnerable to know how to
survive. In efforts to motivate such families,
they provide livestock such as cattle or goats
to some women and youth groups and they
include some oxen so that they can enable
people to revive the use of ox ploughs for
agriculture.
In order to curb cattle theft, the minister
said they started an electronic branding of
all cattle in Karamoja. The practice involves
inserting an electronic chip in the stomach
of the cow, containing information such
as name of owner, its locality, colour of
the cow etc. If the animal is stolen then
traced, an electronic monitor can easily
read the information and the cow relocated
to its rightful owner. She said this form of
cattle branding has helped a lot to minimise
cattle rustling in Karamoja. The people
have regained the conﬁdence that they can
actually keep their animals once branded. So
far, 80,000 heads of cattle have been branded
and the exercise is still on-going. “I am glad
On the education sector, Mrs.Museveni
noted that Karamoja has lagged behind
because of various challenges which
include infrastructure, school buildings
and staff houses, lifestyles and attitudes
of communities, leading to low enrolment
and high dropout rates. She lamented
that despite the progress the country has
made in education, Karamoja is only still
at 12% literacy rate, which is very low.
In response to this, the minister reported,
the government of Uganda, assisted by
partners in development like Irish Aid, have
constructed new staff houses and classrooms.
She said they will continue on this road to
consolidate these achievements through the
Northern Uganda Social Action Fund in the
next three years. “As part of the afﬁrmative
action for Karamoja under UPE and USE,
Karamoja children access free education
and 100 scholarships for tertiary education
are set aside for Karamoja children every
year. Government also plans to build model
boarding primary and secondary schools
throughout the region, complete with
teachers’ houses so that children are taught
and fed and kept in school full time instead
of dropping out.”
Reporting on the health sector, the Minister
informed delegates that provision of health
services has remained a big challenge in
Karamoja. The region continues to report
high levels of maternal and infant mortality
rates. She identiﬁed the following as critical
factors responsible for the crisis: inadequate
accommodation for health workers and
inability to attract and retain qualiﬁed staff,
thus making service delivery particularly
difﬁcult.
In order to address these
challenges, she said government has taken
the following steps: allocating resources
through PRDP and NUSAF 2; two district
hospitals in Abim and Moroto have been
elevated to referral medical facilities for that
region;
collaborating with private hospitals like
Matany missionary hospital to train midwives
and nurses who will be absorbed into
government health facilities; through MOH
and UNICEF, immunisation, nutritional
therapy, sanitation and sensitisation of
communities on maternal and child care.
She concluded that in an effort to bring
primary healthcare services closer to the
people, UNICEF has helped them to establish
village health teams in communities across
the region of Karamoja. Village health teams
are small health clinics at village level.
The Minister informed delegates that the
roads in Karamoja region, like any other
infrastructure, suffered many years of lack
of maintenance and because of insecurity,
the road network was not used. Therefore,
there was no maintenance for a long time
and in the rainy season, ﬂoods would wash
away bridges. To alleviate the situation,
the Government has decided to upgrade
some of the roads in Karamoja to make
them permanent. Some funds have been
secured to commence work on the MorotoNakapiripirit road. The Ministry Of Works,
through the National Roads Authority
(NRA), has also advised Public Private
Partnership (PPP) for the working on several
roads. PPP is a strategy they use in Karamoja
to try to change the road network. The
Minister concluded that she had no doubt
that this improvement in infrastructure will
boost development and will open the region
to further investment opportunities.
Addressing the housing sector, the First
Lady reported that the Karamojong have for
a long time lived in grass thatched houses, in
community settlements known as manyatas.
“Knowing the role of good housing in
promoting better quality of life and taking
the aspirations of local people to experience
social recovery and transformation, we
have piloted the construction of permanent
housing settlements in Nadunget, in Acerere
village, Kamuswahili, in Moroto town and
Olengedwat, in Nakapiripirit district” she
highlighted.
She elaborated that each organised homestead
has twenty homes fully connected with solar
lighting. Around those homes are situated
schools, water sources and an agricultural
production area. This arrangement, it is
hoped, will act as an incentive for future
development of permanent homes in the
area.
Mrs. Museveni outlined government
interventions in the area of
Rural
Electriﬁcation. She said Government
has completed construction of electricity
lines in the areas of Muyembe, Namalu,
Amudat, Soroti, Katakwi and Moroto, and
was exploring solar power initiatives with
private sector. She encouraged Ugandans
at the convention to explore participating in
this programme of rural electriﬁcation.
“As we look to the future, we shall continue
to work towards the region producing its
own food, engaging in other development
activities and with improved infrastructure.
Therefore, we shall attract investors to help
the region harness its natural resources and
potential so that prosperity can become a
reality in this region” the minister stated.
She concluded that they hope to achieve
all these aims within the framework of
Karamoja Integrated Development Program.
The program enables all stakeholders to
contribute and stay together as equal partners
for the progress of Karamoja, a region of
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Turning to the situation of water supply, the
Minister reported that the government of
Uganda put in place a framework to guide
this recovery and development in the whole
of northern region and Karamoja, called
PRDP. Under this program, they set to
provide water both for human and animal
consumption. By the end of this year, they
hope to have at least 15 parish valley dams
and hope to provide at least one valley dam
per parish for animals in all 177 parishes in
Karamoja. The rest of the valley dams will
be constructed under NUSAF2 program,
starting at the end of this year.
to report that the people of Karamoja have
embraced and appreciated this intervention.
Neighbouring districts have requested for
this service to be extended to their livestock
as well”, the minister concluded.
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with an illustration that when they started
this mission, 70% of the people in Karamoja
were living on food aid but today the food
insecure families are only 10%.

6.
opportunity for private entrepreneurs and
investors from within and outside Uganda.
adaptation of global warming and climate
change.
The First Lady proceeded to list what
Karamoja has to offer: Karamoja is home to
one of the most beautiful and highly endowed
game parks in Uganda, the Kidepo National
Game Park. The stunning and unique scenery
in the region and undisturbed habitat offer
tremendous opportunity for eco-tourism.
The vast territory with its rich volcanic
soils is a great advantage for mechanised
commercial crop and livestock agriculture
to feed the market within Uganda, as well as
the regional and global demands. The region
is rich with various minerals, many of them
ready for exploration. Avenues for green
energy production, including solar and fuel
thermal renewable energy, are unparalleled.
“This meeting, focussing on sustainable
prosperity,
should
embrace
these
opportunities and encourage all Ugandans,
friends and partners in development and
entrepreneurs, to pursue these opportunities
in Karamoja. In so doing, we shall have
a win-win situation, where proﬁts are
shared, and the people of Karamoja can
taste prosperity like the rest of the world”,
emphasised Mrs. Museveni.
There are opportunities for large forests
plantations to offer carbon credit to partners
from industrialised countries, as well as
for contributing towards mitigation and
Transcript of
2.
3.
Establish in northern Uganda and
Karamoja a government and state
authority again and the community and
government structures are beginning to
pick up so that they can lead progress of
northern Ugandan and Karamoja
To revitalize the economies of the
people at micro level so that the national
economy can be fed at the macro level
as well and this is happening right now
he conﬁrmed.
Rebuilding communities as a third
objective and a ﬁnally putting in place
conﬂict resolution mechanism.
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Hon. Museveni once again, thanked the
organisers for giving her the opportunity to
share her experience with the convention
delegates.
“I thank you for listening to me and God
Bless you”
Video at: http://www.youtube.com/user/ugandansinuk
to develop grassroots initiatives and this helps
us as a government to ﬁnance people directly
not to ﬁnance government structures through
household livelihood investment support; so
far we have constructed infrastructure for
basic social services; we have established
peace and stability as well as constructed
road in northern Uganda and Karamoja.
He disclosed that the government of
Ugandan provides over 100billion Ug Shs
as additional support beyond the ordinary
budget that we do every year this is a
substantial force to propel northern Uganda
forward and this is in addition to $100m
(Shs240b) from the World Bank into the
second phase of NUSAF II as part of PRDP.
Also he reported that through northern
NUSAF over $15million dollars every year
to the districts of northern Uganda and so far
he reported that the success is at the level
of the real tangible gains for households and
people of northern Ugandan are rebounding
back although there is a lot of work to be
done but hope and possible avenues for
future progression. He further reported that
the challenges of education which the 1st
Lady and Minister of Karamoja mentioned
in karamoja and northern Ugandan is still
real although we have constructed over
1464 units of teachers through NUSAF and
additional through PRDP though more still
needs to be done in education.
On lively woods he further reported that
they have reached over 96750 families
with concrete s at the level of household to
buy goat to be able to invest in their micro
enterprises. He assured that if we do this for
another 3 years our society will become a
little better than it is now.
He reinforced that in Karamoja we
approaching under 3 dimensions; putting
money in the hands of ordinary people
not institutions of government so the
planning unit in karamoja is the manyata
popularly known as the ere, we plan with
the ordinary mothers, children and youth
on what investment they would have; we
give the money on special project accounts
for the ordinary people controlled by the
people themselves and not by anybody in
government and this has enabled people to
be empowered and to control their destiny
in their hands. Dr. Limlim said that the
government has deliberately agreed that
unless our people control their destiny not
just the government structures then it is very
difﬁcult for them to own the progress that
is happening and the resources so far that
we have released to the whole of northern
Ugandan is 115billion UgShs under the
social action fund of northern Uganda.
He informed that World Food Program and
DFID provided £12 million for food security
as the 1st lady and minister for Karamoja has
just highlighted.
Finally he invited all the people of Uganda
and the well wishers in the Diaspora to join
the hands of the people that are already in the
trenches trying to dig out development in the
hands of Uganda and we hope that tomorrow
our country will be better for all of us. It is
only us who have our destiny in our hands
and he called upon Ugandans to unite in this
quest for progress because prosperity is in our
hands now, lastly he thanked the Convention
organisers for inviting the Karamoja team
invited all to northern Uganda and karamoja
to see the development taking place in reality.
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He further assured that in the next four years
after the renewal of Peace, Recovery and
Development Plan for Northern Uganda
(PRDP), we shall consolidate on these gains
and northern Uganda should be at the level
where the rest of Uganda can now join in the
progression of our country without special
attention as it used to be in the last four years.
In northern Uganda through the northern
Uganda social action fund we have been able
an
Concluding her presentation, the First
Lady and Minister for Karamoja Affairs
called upon all present to join them on this
She pledged the commitment of the
government of Uganda to support any
endeavour towards enhancing the prosperity
of Karamoja.
Dr. Robert Limlim
Dr. Robert Limlim is the Director of the
second Northern Uganda Social Action Fund
(NUSAF) program, he accompanied the 1st
lady and during his presentation he started
by inviting Ugandans and friends of Uganda
to consider the peace and recovery program
that has been launched by the government
for the whole of northern Ugandan including
Karamoja that has made tremendous progress
in the recovery of our people after the
various decades of war. Happily he said that
NUSAF program has only run for 3 years but
the results are resounding and was happy to
share the 3 objectives that NUSAF focus on
as the over arching principle of recovery.
1.
Citing that Europe could not be complete
without Germany, whose role is very
signiﬁcant in the contemporary Europe,
she said that Uganda’s development cannot
be complete without the development of
Karamoja.
journey to bring our brothers to the same
level with the rest of Uganda, in dignity and
prosperity. “The development of Karamoja”,
she reiterated, “is a collective responsibility.
It is a frontier we have to cross even as
we celebrate the golden jubilee of our
independence. Fortunately investments
opportunities are wide open for us to exploit
for the good of the Karamojong and Uganda
at large”.
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Transcript of the
Hon. Tress Bucyanayandi
Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries
a ﬁnished product. Arabica coffee
could be brought in to supplement
Uganda’s production, standing now
at 15% Arabica and 85% Robusta.
Cocoa is coming up signiﬁcantly
in Uganda and again investors are
invited to take advantage of the
value addition opportunities by
converting cocoa into by-products
like chocolate.
In the area of fruits and vegetables,
the Minister said that Uganda’s
pineapples and other fruits are
some of the sweetest and that
there is vast opportunities as the
international market is demanding
fresh and dried fruits. On ﬂoral
culture, he advised investors to
look at growing other types of
ﬂowers where again the market
offers big opportunities.
The Minister advised people to start
looking at manufacturing and producing
ﬁsh using ﬁsh cages and ponds as the
demand is extremely high all over the
world. Uganda used to earn more than
$183 million from exports but the ﬁgures
are not promising due to low investment
in the sector.
He mentioned the success story of
Uganda and Nile breweries, leading
in the growing of barley and sorghum
to produce beer. Kinyara sugar works
is reaching out to commercial sugar
growers to help farmers beneﬁt especially
during this time when Uganda produces
less sugar. And he advised investors to
The seed industry is another sector the
Minister quoted, disclosing that only
15% of Uganda’s seed is improved,
offering great opportunities to improve
this ﬁgure.
Regarding fertilisers, Uganda does not
even use 1 kilogram of fertilisers per
hectare per year. . Phosphates and lime
can be exploited to produce fertilisers, as
well as derivatives of the oil industry and
other minerals .
He further reported that though Uganda
has a good climate, commercial irrigation
is still needed to support commercial
farming.
He ﬁnally informed delegates that
Uganda needs investment in agroprocessing urgently because the industry
will not grow without adding value
to raw products. The country needs
to sustain the production for its fast
growing population and be able to supply
the local and regional food demand. It
also needs to increase the shelf life of
ﬁnished products. Lastly, he advised
people to take advantage of minimum
and tax exemption on agro-processing
and machineries as reported by Jolly K.
Kaguhangire from the Uganda Revenue
Authority.
He concluded his speech by thanking Mr.
Willy Mutenza and his team for inviting
him with his team to the Convention and
encouraged him to persuade delegates
to go and invest in Uganda and take
advantage of the peace, good climate
and incentives given to investors.
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In the agro-processing sector, the
Minister pointed out that most of the
cotton is exported raw instead of being
processed in ﬁnal textile which would
add value to the exported product. And
some of this crop could be processed
into animal feeds or oil. He added that
Uganda produces the best coffee which
can be roasted in Uganda and turn it in
In the dairy sector ,he reported a
tremendous increase in the output where
1.8 billion litres of milk annually were
produced, with potential for growth.
Milk coolers and abattoirs for processing
meat for export especially to the middle
east market are one of those the Minister
advised immediate investments in.
He further said that Uganda can’t
increase productive by using the old
manual methods. Machinery and
innovative commercial technology and
know-how is needed in the country to
increase productivity. He advised on
investors to come and start a tractor hire
service as many people can’t afford to
buy their own tractor but can afford to
hire at a reasonable cost.
Ug a n
H
on.
Tress
Bucyanayandi,
Minister
of
Agriculture,
Animal Industry and Fisheries
started his speech by emphasised
that agriculture is the most important
sector in Ugandan economy. He stated
that out of a population of 34 million
people, agriculture employs 4.5 million
directly in farming and another 2.5
million people engaged in other various
agriculture related activities. And more
than 77% of the population is engaged in
this sector. He was happy to report that
agriculture’s performance grew by 3%
over the previous year. He reported that
the Ugandan government has a target
of raising a family’s income to about
20million UgShs per family per year,
which is achievable if some enterprise
routes are exploited.
Due to the rising population in
the region and Uganda, producing
cereals and grain foods are some of
the best opportunities because the
raw product can be converted into
animal feeds and also food for human
consumption.
look at investing in sugar cane farming
as the regional demand is high.

8.
Transcript of the
Hon. Maria Kiwanuka
The Hon. Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development
The Hon. Minister of Finance,
Planning and Economic Development,
Maria Kiwanuka, opened her address
by thanking Ugandans in London for
looking after the Ugandan Olympic
team and most of all for helping
Kiprotich win the marathon gold
medal.
She expressed her appreciation of the
role the Ugandan diaspora played in
the development of Uganda, not only
for the remittances sent by the the
Diaspora, but also for the good ideas
generated and the business contacts
that they attracted to the country.
Hon. Kiwanuka stated that there
was no doubt that the focus for
this year’s convention, Career
and Investment Opportunities in
Uganda, was of critical importance
to the government’ prioritisation to
renewing the country’s economic
growth. The government’s strategy
is to support value-added in agroprocessing, skilling of the workforce
in areas that are most relevant to the
job market and lowering the cost of
doing business by increasing the stock
of infrastructure, energy, roads and
water transport networks. She said that
the government is very much aware
that the private sector both inside
and outside Uganda is the engine of
growth, responsible for over 80% of
GDP and that the government’s best
role is to see where it can help the
private sector to achieve its optimum
returns.
Hon. Kiwanuka reported that, in order
to maximise returns and target limited
resources to most critical areas, the
government is concentrating on the
following areas:
Infrastructure development; roads
repair , maintenance and expansion;
power generation, power transmission
and distribution
Research development which includes
skilling of workforce, and training
our trainers, to make sure that our
people get back to work.
Research and development in
improved seeds, improved animal
semen and how best to control crop
diseases and pest diseases.
Assist with
business regulatory
frameworks to streamline and
rationalise the licensing and regulation
framework to ensure business people/
entrepreneurs are not frustrated in
their efforts to set up or continue their
businesses.
Selection
of
public
/private
partnerships i.e. ﬁrst contractor
ﬁnancing or contractor facilitated
ﬁnancing., and energy transmission
lines or energy generation whereby
mini hydro schemes are set up to sell
power to the government ,to be sold to
the ultimate consumer.
Hon. Kiwanuka stated that 3 key
bench mark questions will be asked in
order to maximise returns:
Does the investment increase the
stock of infrastructure, productive
infrastructure, roads power and
irrigation and ICT?
Does the investment add value to its
product or process? Will it enable the
product or process to be produced
cheaper or better?
Does the investment lower the cost
of doing business? And if, so by how
much?
“In the year 2010, the Ugandan
Diaspora sent back remittances
over 40 billion Shillings excluding
informal ﬂows. With the global
economy continuing to register slow
growth and persistence of the crisis in
the Euro zone, the government cannot
ignore the potential of private ﬁnancial
ﬂows from Ugandans in the Diaspora
in forms of property income, equity
investments and pension payments
among others. The advantage of such

9.
investments is that they are more
stable than wage income but also
enable the owners to broaden their
investment portfolios.”
Hon. Kiwanuka urged delegates
not to forget the fact that returns on
investment right now are highest in
Africa including Uganda, and the
risk perceptions are not as high as has
been previously envisaged, especially
since Uganda is changing her export
strategy to focus more on the regional
aspects. She said that Uganda is the
only country in East Africa that is
a net exporter of food and appealed
to delegates to improve on the
production, the productivity and to add
value to this area. The government has
10 commodities for priority interest,
these being maize, beans, cassava,
rice, bananas, fresh water ﬁsh, dairy
cattle and beef cattle.
The second area Hon. Kiwanuka
discussed was regulatory and
licensing reform. A number of
initiatives have been undertaken by
the government to create an enabling
business environment and to minimise
the cost of doing business in order to
attract more international investments,
including those of the Diaspora.
These programmes are geared
towards infrastructure and skills
development , the pension sector to be
newly liberalised and regulatory and
licensing reforms.
The government will establish the
business entry one-stop-shop by
integrating business incorporation
with other business registration
processes such as taxes, registration,
licensing
and
social
security
registration. This would reduce the
time and cost associated with starting
and running a business. It will employ
ICT tools to enable sharing of critical
information on businesses.
Hon. Kiwanuka fully accepted that
there are other issues that will require
broader policy consideration beyond
the scope of licensing reforms,
including local government ﬁnancing,
enforcement gaps, regulatory overlap,
costs and inefﬁciencies associated with
centralised services. She recognised
a need to improve co-ordination
between various government agencies
on policy matters. She said that her
ministry is already working closely
with the relevant sectors where
these problems have been reported
in agriculture, local government,
ﬁsheries, trade, health, environment,
hotel and tourism sectors.
Hon. Kiwanuka concluded her speech
by assuring the delegates of the support
of the government in all their plans to
increase business and other economic
set ups in the country and that the
government looks forward to their
contributions towards revitalisation of
growth and sustainable development
in Uganda.
She hailed the close connection
her ministry has with the High
Commission, and urged delegates to
give any problems or issues which
they would like her ministry to
address to the High Commissioner or
deputy High Commissioner who will
make sure that she receives them in
the quickest possible time.
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came up
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The Ministry of Finance
with recommendations for business
licenses reform. It identiﬁed a total
of 790 licenses, permits, user charges
issued by both central and local
government agencies countrywide.
It recommended that some of these
be eliminated
and have already
done so because they do not serve
any regulatory purpose. Another
400 will be retained, streamlined or
reclassiﬁed. The implementation of
these recommendations will save the
private sector more than 25% in their
current licensing costs . It will also
ensure that licenses are used to serve
legitimate regulatory purposes and not
revenue generating purposes.
The Government is also to establish
an ofﬁcial e-registry to house all
information on approved business
licenses which will minimise
duplication
of
submission
of
information and excessive licensing. It
will serve as a deﬁnitive repository of
information on licensing requirements,
thus will increase transparency and
compliance by the private sector.

10.
Transcript of the
Opportunity Uganda
Sector Panel Discussion
Keynote address by Rt Hon. Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga
Sector Panel Discussion:
Moderator: Joel Kibazo, JK Associates
Panellists:
1. Lynda Chalker, Baroness Chalker of Wallasey
2. Dr Andrew G. Seguya, Ag. Executive Director, CEO | Uganda Wildlife Authority
3. Jolly K. Kaguhangire, Commissioner - Uganda Revenue Authority
4. Mr. Sebaggala M. Kigozi, Executive Director – Uganda Manufacturing Association (UMA)
5. Amb. Agnes Kalibbala, Director for Housing - Ministry of Lands and Housing
Baroness Chalker was the ﬁrst panellist
to address the delegates. She said that the
opportunities in Uganda are there for the
taking, but no one should delay at taking
them, as many other African countries
are also vying for investors. About 15
years ago, she did not think that a music
school in Kampala was viable but now
the capital has such a school teaching
music, like the violin and various wind
instruments.
Baroness Chalker criticised the fact that
too much time is spent talking about
what might be done, rather than taking a
decision and implementing it.
She said agriculture is critical not just
for Africa, but for the rest of the world.
Population is increasing very fast in
many countries of Africa. Unless value
is added and the growth of agriculture is
extended all over Uganda, the country
will not keep up with its own needs,
nor will there be sufﬁcient food for the
surrounding countries, despite there
being good export markets right on
Uganda’s borders.
She shared some thoughts on how
tourists could be used to better the
country by inviting them to Uganda
to help build schools and centres. She
ended by advising the delegates to “take
every opportunity, take the decision and
get on with it”.
Next, Dr. Andrew Seguya gave a brief
overview of the opportunities in the
wildlife sector. He stated that Uganda
occupies only 0.01% of the land mass of
the world, but has 17% of all biodiversity,
a very big percentage for such a small
country. In terms of tourism, Uganda
has 10% of its land mass classiﬁed
as protected areas where a lot of this
biodiversity abounds, and where 20%
of all water bodies and 30% of all forest
cover can be found.
Tourism is the highest earning sector
in Uganda, bringing in over 1 billion
US Dollars in 2011. 80-90% of this
was contributed by the protected areas.
Gorillas alone brought in about 80%
of this revenue. Dr. Seguya invited
delegates to invest in tourism if they
wanted to get some of the highest returns.
He gave an example of a tourist paying
300 dollars per night for the use of a tent.
He pointed out that there are investment
opportunities in accommodation, for
stop-over facilities in the national parks,
around which different businesses can be
built. There is also need for investment
in helicopter tourism and hot air balloon
rides, things that are not in existence on
the ground at the moment.
Dr. Seguya also mentioned birding as
an important area for investment. There
are 1067 bird species in Uganda in
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She said that people still have a very
warm and positive attitude towards
Uganda, but that the country must not
let up in making the positive news well
known way beyond East Africa. Whilst
she believes that Uganda has the best
economic opportunities, the country will
not succeed if it is disorganised or silent.
She was not referring to the excellent
organisation at the convention; she meant
getting outside the Diaspora, getting to
other people who have sympathy for
East Africa, which can be particularly
done through tourism.
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11.
Mr. Kigozi said that the manufacturing
sector in Uganda is basically a virgin
area. Uganda imports 90% of its
consumables, and produces the other
10%. 80% of raw materials that could
be produced in Uganda are imported,
so investors are needed to bridge the
gap in both areas. Only 10% of the fruit
is processed, and the rest is exported
raw. Investors are needed to have 90%
processed within the country before
export. Of the 300,000 metric tonnes of
oil consumed in Uganda, only 126,000
are produced within the country. Most
of the items produced in the country
are packaged but 50% of packaging
materials are imported, which means
only 50% is produced within the country,
so there is a gap that can be ﬁlled in all
these areas.
Mr. Kigozi went on to say that Uganda has
celebrated the oil/ petroleum discovery
satellite town along the new road through
Entebbe to Kampala, the southern
bypass, to decongest Kampala, so that
people in Wakiso can stay there instead
of rushing to Kampala. This town will
be called Ssisa town. There are plans to
set up tourist cities like Buvuma Island,
to look like the Seychelles to attract
more tourists.
Ambassador Kalibbala next outlined the
Mrs. Jolly Kaguhangire of the Uganda
investment opportunities in the housing
sector. She stated that there is a deﬁcit
of about 3 million housing units. In this
regard, the government of Uganda has
put in place a number of projects which
she hopes investors and members of the
Diaspora present at the convention will
get interested in.
The ﬁrst one is the building of housing
for civil servants, starting with teachers
and doctors. The pilot aims to redevelop
the Mulago doctor’s village on about 60
acres of land and build a well planned
residential area with commercial and
recreational facilities to improve the
wellbeing of doctors and nurses, enabling
them to do their jobs more effectively.
The same will be done for the teachers.
Revenue Authority (URA) began her
address by informing the delegates that
the URA has undergone reform since
2005, in which the approach to tax
collection was changed from a military
approach to a more user friendly
approach in order to facilitate trade and
enhance voluntary compliance. The
URA’s mandate is to collect revenues
and non-tax revenues on behalf of the
government. It had to reform, as the old
approach did not help the organisation to
excel in what it was doing and without
trade, the organisation would not survive.
The urbanisation rate in Uganda
is very high. There will be about 5
million people in Kampala very soon.
To decongest the capital, the ministry
is planning the redevelopment of the
slums, to accommodate all levels of
income and will avail commercial
premises for the people living there.
Through the decongestion plan, there
are hopes of starting new satellite towns,
taking advantage of the new hydropower
dam that will be constructed in Karuma.
There needs to be houses, hotels and
residential areas built around the area.
There might be the need to put up a
She ﬁnally invited investors and the
Diaspora to come and work with the
government to make these plans for
the redevelopment of Kampala and
the setting up of satellite towns a
reality. The government is looking at
investors to provide bridging ﬁnance,
funds for construction and production
of affordable building materials,
establishment of manufacturing factories
for the production of tiles, marble, ﬂoor
tiles, and glass to develop the real estate
sector.
Reform was achieved primarily
through the use of technology and the
modernisation of services. The URA
now has e-services that were introduced
in 2009, to ease the manner in which
entrepreneurs can pay taxes, enabling
them to do so at their convenience, from
any location in the world. The authority
also increased support and availability of
information to ease payment of taxes.
Mrs. Kaguhangire also mentioned that
there are tax exemptions in speciﬁc areas.
Starting in July this year, the government
decided to support agro-processing,
so importation of any new plant and
machinery is tax free; exportation of
ﬁnished goods (80% or more) is tax free;
permanent employment of people with
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He also mentioned that the authority
is aware that individuals may not have
sufﬁcient capital for investment, but
that the funds for investment can be
raised collectively. With the public
private partnership law in the pipeline,
the National Wildlife Authority will set
up an investment vehicle where groups
can put money together to be invested
in an agreed project. Entrepreneurs with
limited funds will thereby still be able to
pool funds for an investment and earn
returns on it.
but he had not seen many investors
looking at the numerous by-products
of the oil as investment opportunities.
He said that it was high time delegates
paid attention to that sector and prepared
to take advantage of it. 95% of all
drugs used in Uganda are imported
and these are simple drugs that can be
manufactured within the country. He
encouraged delegates to look at the 95%
as a gap that they can ﬁll and even export
the excess drugs to other countries
within the East African region, such as
South Sudan and D.R Congo.
Almost 100% of leather, hides and skins
are exported raw, leaving a big gap in
the market for the processing of these
products. Shoes, bags, suitcases and
other leather products must be produced
in Uganda .There is a plastics industry
in Uganda, but only 40% is produced
within the country, a situation calling for
more investment.
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comparison to 700 species in Europe and
650 species in North America. Queen
Elizabeth national park, which covers
2500 square kilometres, has 700 species
of birds. There is a need for specialised
birding equipment creating investment
opportunities in this area. Mountain
climbing needs to be invested in, as well
as mountain climbing equipment/gear.
Uganda has probably the only mountain
in the world, Mt. Rwenzori, on which one
can experience all four seasons. Sport
ﬁshing, walking safaris, night safaris
all provide investment opportunities
because they require specialised
equipment that is not readily available
in Uganda at the moment. Uganda has
the biggest fresh water lake in the world,
Lake Victoria, and the River Nile where
tourist boats need to invested in, as well
as boat accommodation.

12.
disabilities earns ﬁrms some exemptions;
there is no tax on income received from
investment in education and scientiﬁc
research on capital expenditures is tax
free. She concluded by saying that the
services provided by URA are good like
its 24 hr support, payment by mobile,
and the services provided are integrated.
The speaker of the House, Right Hon.
Rebecca Kadaga spoke next and
enumerated areas that do not require a lot
of capital to invest in. She started with
wildlife, mentioned attractions such as
the climbing lions in Kanungu in the deep
West, as well as the mountain gorillas.
She particularly wanted to inform the
delegates of a new type of tourism in
Uganda based on the traditional life
of the Ugandan people. She gave an
example of a former colleague of hers
who left parliament and currently runs
a lodge, where tourists pay for the
privilege of milking cows and digging in
the garden, living the traditional African
lifestyle. This is an investment that
does not require a lot of funding. She
suggested that this could be extended
to include activities like pottery, giving
them the rare experience of making pots
in Africa, showing it is possible to do
more without spending too much money.
Right Hon. Kadaga also tried to interest
the delegates in investment opportunities
around Lake Bunyonyi, the second
deepest lake in the world. Tourists pay
for the privilege of using canoes on the
lake and pay about £400per night to
sleep in a simple wooden lodge. She
also called the delegates’ attention to
religious tourism and said a lot more
marketing was needed for the Uganda
Martyrs.
this is something that she has put right
at the top of her agenda in the next six
months.
Next followed a commentary and
question time.
Dr. Seguya then answered a query on
Subhash Thakrar,
the chairman of
the London Chamber of Commerce,
Ugandan by birth, who has been
involved in investing in India, suggested
that the government produce a dedicated,
certiﬁed list of opportunities on a website
that people can look at, something that
has been done in India. This can be
certiﬁed by a leading accounting or law
ﬁrm. He said that since western investors
today have plenty of choice to invest in
Asia and other countries in Africa, it was
time for Uganda to show up the best
opportunities available by selling them.
Next, Baroness Chalker answered a
query on the political climate and the
viability of infrastructure in Uganda
(roads, hospitals) so that investors can
come to Uganda and invest conﬁdently.
Baroness Chalker agreed with the
Chairman of the London chamber of
Commerce, saying it is indeed necessary
to have dedicated certiﬁed list of
opportunities with the best opportunities
highlighted. She added that this should
be the job of the Uganda Investment
Authority (UIA) and of every Ugandan
High Commission and Embassy around
the world. She also said there was a
need to reform the working practices of
the UIA and strengthen its stafﬁng. She
reported that she had been asked to help
with this reform, together with some
dedicated workshops, particularly in the
area of information technology (ICT), in
the area of agriculture and indeed also on
the preparations for oil, gas and power
development.
Baroness Chalker mentioned that while
it is wonderful in many ways that oil
has been found, Uganda is not yet ready
to make the most of this bonus coming
out of the ground. Many more artisan
workers and scientists are needed to
make sure that oil and gas production
and transportation is done properly and
maximises the return to the Ugandan
people. She assured the delegates that
incentives in the tourism sector and
progress on the East African single visa
regime. He said that the East African
parliament is looking at not only issuing
a single East African visa, but also at
selling East Africa as a single destination.
He said they were working on the
protection of the smaller states from
the stronger ones. He gave an example
of tour companies in Kenya being able
to buy all the gorilla permits in Uganda
with one cheque, thereby pushing all the
other tour companies out of business.
Dr. Seguya assured delegates that the
framework for the single visa is currently
being worked out and it will happen.
As the last speaker of the session,
Rebecca Kadaga, Speaker of Parliament
added that that there are still a number
of issues that need to be agree on within
the community, such as sovereignty
and which type of passports will be
issued. With regard to the political
climate, the speaker assured delegates
that elections are held every ﬁve years
and to conﬁrm that politicians from
different parties co-exist, she mentioned
Commissioner Dombo a member of the
NRM, Hon. Balikuddembe, a member
of the opposition, Hon. Allen, a former
member of the Diaspora who returned
home and contested as an independent
candidate and Hon. Janet Karuhanga,
independent MP for the youth.
Right Hon. Kadaga told delegates that
the government is equally concerned
about the health situation and addressing
it. The government has secured loans
to redo all the major hospitals in the
country. She concluded by telling the
delegates that things are going to change
as long as the government receives the
support that it needs.
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In Busoga, she said the government is
looking to market the Hannington site in
Kyando where Bishop Hannington was
killed. Given that Bishop Hannington
was sent to Uganda by the Church
of England, people from the Church
of England could visit the site as a
pilgrimage. She mentioned that at the
end of this year, there will be a Busoga
tourism expo aimed at marketing all
nine chiefdoms, as well as religious
sites in the area as a starting point. She
concluded by inviting delegates for
the Busoga tourism expo in December
promising that it will be very exciting.
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13.
Transcript of the presentation by
Amongin Aporu Christine,
Minister of State for Teso Affairs
science ﬁction writer, Robert Heinlein,
“A generation which ignores history
has no past and no future”, which
could be referred to Ugandans. “What
our country has gone through over the
50 years should give us a guide to be
able to choose what to do to achieve
the best for our country”, she said.
She appealed to Ugandans in the
Diaspora to help combat the challenges
of ﬂooding in Teso region. This could
be an investment opportunity as most
of the bridges get ﬂooded, though she
admitted that the government was
trying to do its best to overcome this
calamity. Teso region is peaceful and
people should take the PPP* (public
private partnership) arrangement to
engage in business with the assurance
of the government as a partner.
H
on. Christine Amongin, the
Minister of State for Teso
Affairs reminded the audience
about the 1st Ugandan UK
Convention that took place in August
2011. “We came out of that Convention”
she said, “with recommendations and
resolute to forge the way forward in
concerted efforts to make Uganda our
pride and a better place to live in. We are
here now to review our commitments and
how to build on what we have done.”
She said that at the ﬁrst Convention, the
main objective of Teso Affairs Ministry
was to closely oversee Government
programs and ensuring their fasttracking towards accelerated social
and economic development in the Teso
Region. She explained that having been
a new Department of Government in
the previous ﬁnancial year, the Ministry
operations were, to a large extent, budget
constrained. However, she reported gladly
that the Ministry has been allocated a vote
and a budget for this ﬁnancial year.
She implored Ugandans to reﬂect on
the 50 years journey after attaining
independence and quoted a phrase by
She gladly reported that since the 1st
Convention, she managed to get some
charities from London to work on
various projects in Teso. She mention
in particular River Flow Ministries who
help people on agriculture development.
Another charity, Ark Schools, has now
constructed 12 secondary schools in the
region and all these thanks to the effort
of the convention which has allowed
the Teso Affairs Ministry to forge good
relationship with these charities.
The Minister said that Teso is open for
business. Projects in value addition are
needed in the region to take advantage of
the abundance of cassava and potatoes.
She reported some good developments
in the region, including the University.
His Excellency the President directed the
establishment of Teso University sooner
than was expected. She reported the Teso
University Task Force was accordingly
launched by the Minister of Education
and Sports, and the university is set to
commence in July 2013. She called on
skilled Ugandans to go and teach in the
two faculties in human resources and IT
to commence with the opening of the
University.
The region is also working with a Korean
International
Cooperation
Agency
(KOICA) to construct a fruit factory,
which will add value to the many citrus
fruit grown in the region. Teso Tropical
Growers are calling upon Ugandans
in London to take advantage of the
investment opportunity, particularly
in the agricultural sector. The Teso
Affairs Ministry will continue with the
emphasis on improving on performance
of all agricultural programs, both in the
public and private sector to strengthen
agricultural production, including food
security.
She assured investors that rural
electriﬁcation is one of the major
government policies. In pursuit of this
policy, Government put in place the Rural
Electriﬁcation Agency (REA) to ensure
electric energy is availed in the rural areas.
The task is ongoing and many rural areas
have been placed on the grid for eventual
electricity infrastructure provision and
connection.
She advised Ugandans to utilize the
Constitution of the Republic of Uganda
1995. She encouraged them to seek and
obtain information from Government on
any issue of importance in any sector of
the economy and on Government policies
so as to make informed decisions on
where to contribute to the development of
Uganda.
Finally, she pointed out that “we are aware
of our plight, but we must recognize that
opportunities exist to turn Teso around”.
She concluded by commending and
thanking the organizers of the Convention
for arranging this important occasion, and
inviting her again to participate in it.
Video at: http://www.youtube.com/user/
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*PPPs allow governments to retain ownership while contracting the private sector to perform a specific function such as building,
maintaining and operating infrastructure like roads and ports, or providing basic services like water and electricity. Both sides
stand to benefit from the contractual agreement. Government earns revenue by leasing state-owned assets or alternatively pays
the private sector for improved infrastructure and better service delivery. Often the private sector can do the job more efficiently,
which can lower prices and improve rollout. The private operator gets reimbursed either by government or consumers for doing
its work, at a profit

14.
Transcript of the presentation by
Mr. Alenyo Marshall,
Senior immigration ofﬁcer
his or her grandparents
had diplomatic status in
Uganda; and
ii) neither of his or her
parents and none of his
or her grandparents was a
refugee in Uganda; and
b)
who has lived continuously in
Uganda since the ninth day of October,
1962. shall, on application, be entitled to
be registered as a citizen of Uganda-
2.
The truth about Uganda
Dual Citizenship
M
r. Alenyo Marshall,
Senior
Immigration
Ofﬁcer, during his
presentation at the 2nd
Ugandan Convention UK, explained
that under the current constitution
(1995), they are 4 types of citizens
of Uganda:
Citizenship by birth.
a)
every person born in Uganda
one of whose parents or grandparents
is or was a member of any of the
indigenous communities existing and
residing within the borders of Uganda
as at the ﬁrst day of February, 1926,
and set out in the Third Schedule to
this Constitution; and
b)
every person born in or
outside Uganda, one of whose
parents or grandparents was at the
time of birth of that person a citizen
of Uganda by birth.
Foundings and adopting children.
a)
A child of not more than ﬁve
years of age found in Uganda, whose
parents are not known, shall be
presumed to be a citizen of Uganda
by birth.
b)
A child under the age of
eighteen years neither of whose
parents is a citizen of Uganda, who
is adopted by a citizen of Uganda
shall, on application, be registered as
a citizen of Uganda.
Citizenship by registration
1. Every person born in Ugandaa)
at the time of whose birthi) neither of his or her
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none
3.
Paragraph (a) of clause (2) of this
article applies also to a person who
was married to a citizen of Uganda
who, but for his or her death, would
have continued to be a citizen of
Uganda under this Constitution.
4.
Where a person has been registered
as a citizen of Uganda under
paragraph (a) of clause (2)of this
article and the marriage by virtue of
which that person was registered isa)
annulled or otherwise declared
void by a court or tribunal of competent
jurisdiction; or
b)
dissolved, that person shall,
unless he or she renounces that citizenship,
continue to be a citizen of Uganda.
Citizenship by naturalisation
Parliarment shall by law provide for
the acquisition and loss of citizenship
by
naturalisation.
Mr. Alenyo explained that when
Ugandans in the UK
took UK
citizenship, they ceased being
Ugandan citizen. Holding a Ugandan
and British passport does not make
one a Ugandan unless he/she registers
under article 15 activated by section
19 of the Uganda citizenship and
immigration act.
Mr Alenyo advised Ugandans in
the Diaspora to lobby the Rt. Hon.
Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga, Speaker
of the Ugandan Parliament, who
was amongst the VIP delegates at
the Convention, to waive the dual
citizenship fee which seems to deter
everyone to register.
Mr Alenyo said that those who
registered for dual citizenship will
have the privilege to pick their
National Id cards from the High
Commission. The national ID cards
will be used to access services such
as voting and to buy land as citizens,
as well as to contest for elective
ofﬁces.
Mr Alenyo listed the ofﬁces a dual
citizen cannot hold among others:
a. President.
b. Vice President.
c. Prime Minister.
d. Cabinet Minister and other
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
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Ministers.
The Inspector General and the
Deputy Inspector General of
Government.
Commanding
Ofﬁcers
of
Armed Forces Units of at least
battalion strength.
Ofﬁcers responsible for heading
departments responsible for
records personnel and logistics
in all branches of the Armed
Forces.
Inspector General of Police and
Deputy Inspector General of
Police.
Heads and Deputy Heads
of National Security and
Intelligence
Organisations,
(ESO), ISO and CMI).
Video at: http://www.youtube.com/user/
ugandansinuk
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The following persons shall, upon
application be registered as citizens
of Ugandaa)
every person married to a
Uganda citizen upon proof of a legal and
subsisting marriage of three years or such
other period prescribed by Parliament:
b)
every person who has legally
and voluntarily migrated to and has
been living in Uganda for at least ten
years or such other period prescribed by
Parliament;
c)
every person who, on the
commencement of this Constitution, has
lived in Uganda for at least twenty years.
Mr Alenyo explained the privileges
of being a dual citizen:
i. You have the right to vote
ii. You have the right to own
land under the mailo land
ownership. (holding mailo
land as a Bristish subject is
illegal under section 40 of
the Land Act)
iii. Acquiring a national ID,
which will be issued very
soon
Summary report | Comments and Evaluation | Action Plan

15.
3UGANDAN UK CONVENTION
rd
One day - One Event
Ugandan UK Diaspora Trade and Investment
EXPO 2013
Discover the tools, strategies, and tips
to financial freedom with truly
diversified investments.
»
»
Real Estate
Financial Services
◊
»
»
»
»
»
»
»
Venue: TROXY ARENA
490 Commercial Road
London E1 0HX
United Kingdom
Diaspora Bond
◊
Saturday, 14 Sept 2013
Banking & Access to Finance
Agribusiness
◊ Agro-Processing
Public-Private Partnerships
Renewable Energy
Transport & Communication
ICT
Tourism
Manufacturing
Register for your FREE conference ticket:
www.3rdugandaukconvention.eventbrite.co.uk
Uganda Diaspora Investment Expo
2013 will be the largest Ugandan
event in Europe that is designed
to promote Uganda as a favorit
investment destination in Africa.
The Expo will offer companies large
and small the opportunity to access
our lucrative and often overlooked
market. The Convention will focus
and contribute to the economic
empowerment of the Ugandan
community through the Expo.
There are many benefits people
will receive when they attend this
Expo. Some of the essential benefits
are discovering new business
opportunities, networking, gaining
priceless information, and improving
personal
business
contacts,
employment opportunities, finding
potential business partners, as well
as, leisure enjoyment.
Speakers will include Ministers
and senior officials, as well as
Chairs and Chief Executives of
businesses, investment funds and
other industries. This Forum will
showcase the best investment
opportunities that Uganda and
East African region have to offer.
The Forum presents a platform for
investors and project partners to
explore and discuss investment
opportunities
with
decision
makers.
The Forum will also offer networking
opportunities and the space to
discuss prospects in key sectors
like Agriculture, Infrastructure,
Banking and Financial services,
Tourism, Manufacturing, Energy,
Oil and Gas.
Enquiries: Mob: +44779 647 089 | info@ugandanconventionuk.org
Contact in Uganda: Mr. Bernard Magulu: +256 754 410 559
www.ugandanconventionuk.org

16.
Sector Panel Discussion:
Investing in Financial Markets
– (Diaspora Bond)
Overview on the investing environment across Ugandan fi nancial markets. Considerations to include preferred
sectors, regulatory pressures and typical risk and return of investment funds, mitigation of risks, incentives and
Diaspora Bond.
Hon. Maria Kiwanuka, The minister
for Finance, Planning and Economic
Development was the keynote speaker on
the session about ﬁnancial markets. She
said that Diasporans have been sending
money home to their families, educate
children, and look after parents, to build
typically housing for them and their
families. Now, she said, was the time
to look at the ﬁnancial markets as a way
for the Diaspora to invest their money
back home in markets like the Diaspora
Bond and the stock market of Uganda and
several other instruments.
The government knows that the
Diasporans can be a stable source of
funds more than any other source of
investors because their familiarity with
Uganda gives them a better perception of
any possible risk. Also, Diasporans are
generally less concerned with exchange
rate ﬂuctuations because they will invest
in Uganda for the long term.
The moderator mentioned that in August
2012, it was reported that Bob Diamond,
the former CEO of Barclays Capital was
to introduce complex investment banking
products like hedge funds, derivatives and
swaps in Uganda. He invited Veronica
Kalema, who does a lot of credit rating
on the African continent to explain where
Uganda’s ﬁnancial markets stand at the
moment and why should the Ugandans in
the Diaspora be interested in investing in
ﬁnancial products in Uganda.
Veronica Kalema explained that
Uganda’s ﬁnancial markets are still at the
development stage but nevertheless pose
a lot of investment opportunities. Uganda
developed a domestic Bond market ten
years ago, and increasingly, African
countries are going in the Euro Bond
market and issuing debt bonds which
would have been unthinkable 5 years ago.
She said that Zambia recently issued
its debut Euro Bond which was
oversubscribed by 15% , amounting to
basically $12billion worth of investment
and she was sure that was also the way
Uganda and all the rest of the frontier
markets were moving towards.
Mr. Phillip Wabulya, Executive Director
Operations Edwin was invited to talk
about the Diaspora Bond. He explained
ﬁrst that in 1993, the government had
liberalized the economy, when just
$50,000 could move the entire market of
Uganda and the exchange rate would be
up. The trade has changed positively and
the capital markets right now demand a
Diaspora bond because a lot of Ugandans
are looking for other investment avenues
and products beside the usual real estate.
Mr Wabulya further said that Uganda
has an active secondary market whereby
government securities are being traded.
In addition, the Minister of Finance is
committed to build skills and investment
opportunities, and the Bank of Uganda
via the UK Convention, aims to raise
awareness and to look forward to the
implementation of the Diaspora bond in
the near future.
Mr Wabulya explained how people in the
Diaspora will be able to buy or sell the
Diaspora bond after its introduction, and
how they will be able to access it from
outside Uganda. He cited that from July
2011, Uganda received about $252million
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The moderator of the panel was Edwin
Charles Senjobe Sentogo. The panel
guests were Veronica Kalema from Ned
Bank Capital Africa Credit, Derrick
Smail of Homestrings, Kenneth Egesa
from Bank of Uganda where he heads the
statistics department and Philip Obuya,
the Executive Director of Operations in
the Bank of Uganda.
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17.
of investment in the ﬁnancial markets in
the bonds and treasury bills. He assured
investors and Ugandans that it is already
happening, that the opportunities are there
and other shrewd investors were taking
advantage of them, rather than looking at
only infrastructure, housing and the like.
10million Ug Shs, who are entitled to
bid for a price which later determines the
prices. The interest rates really depend on
the players in the market at the time, and
on the prices they are willing to take for
the amounts that are offered in the market.
A delegate asked the panel to deﬁne
the Diaspora Bond in lay man’s terms.
Mr. Wabulya clariﬁed that the Diaspora
bond is a bond, or a paper, that people,
not living in the country, can invest in,
and is normally used to raise funds for
infrastructure development. For example,
they can raise money for a particular
road project, and the people allowed to
invest are those not living in Uganda,
which deﬁnes it as a Diaspora bond. This
bond will normally have yearly tenures
between 3- 15 years, as it normally is a
long time investment.
Mr Wabulya also said that Uganda
Stock exchange (USE) realized that in
Uganda, a lot of the ﬁnancial markets are
based in the commercial banks. Bank of
Uganda, Uganda Securities Exchange and
Capital Markets Authority are currently
discussing and exploring the best way
to make it work. He said “we have what
we call a central depository system that
we hope will give access to a lot of
investors to invest electronically into the
government of Uganda securities and
equity market, which will be operative in
the next few months.”
Lastly, Mr Wabulya addressed the
worries of fraud, non- compliance of
regulations and how to mitigate any risk
from mismanagement of funds, which
were put forward by some delegates. He
revealed that every investor he had visited
recently said that the Bank of Uganda
pursued a very strong monetary policy
that has insulated commercial banks from
the problems that could have happened.
He explained that banks in Uganda are
sufﬁciently capitalized and have enough
liquidity to meet the obligations. He added
that BOU has a very strong supervision
team headed by Mrs Justine Bagyenda
that does not tolerate any ﬂexibility in
terms of any breaches in the requirement.
The moderator invited Derek Smail of
Homestrings
(www.homestrings.com)
to make a contribution focusing on
investment and getting good return on
investment.
To match up these expectations,
Homestrings.com was set up as an
investment vetted platform which helps
investors looking for opportunities,
and enables government and private
agencies to promote their products like
bonds, Diaspora bonds, equity funds,
public private partnerships projects and
government initiatives.
Hon. Maria Kiwanuka, The minister
for Finance, Planning and Economic
Development said that the African
Development Bank issued a local
currency note of Shs125billion on the
Ugandan Stock Market in a bid to raise
funds for different projects funded by
the bank. She was pleased to share that
Uganda is only the second country in
Africa 9after South Africa) where Africa
Development Bank has felt that there
was enough credit rating. She said that if
Uganda’s credit rating was good enough
for ADP, it should be good enough for the
Diaspora. The delegates applauded with
happiness.
Mr. Phillip Wabulya further commented
on how the interest rates are determined
in Uganda. He clariﬁed two types of
investors: those investing less that
10million Ug Shs ( $4000) who buy at
the set price; and those who invest over
Hon. Maria Kiwanuka, The minister
for Finance, Planning and Economic
Development addressed this concern
simply by referring to the Financial Times
newspaper, rating Uganda as the best lowrisk investment country in East Africa,
which should put to rest all doubts and
questions on the risk factor.
Phillip Wabulya added to the Minister’s
point by saying that Uganda’s credit
rating is done by the well-known credit
rating agencies Fitch (www.ﬁtchratings.
com) and Standard and Poors (www.
standardandpoors.com). He pointed
out that the ratings Kenya, Tanzania and
Zambia received from similar rating
agencies quickly showed that there is
an advantage of investing in Uganda,
compared to those countries.
Derek Smail from Homestrings ﬁnally
said that Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana and
Mozambique have Diaspora bonds, and
that what Uganda currently has is a 91
day Treasury bill which is paying 12% on
an annual basis. He added that after the
Convention, he was going to invest in a
91 day Republic of Uganda treasury bill
simply because he understood a little bit
more about Uganda, and he thought that
Uganda needs it, Uganda deserves it and
is safer!
The session was concluded by the
Minister of Finance thanking the panelists
and the delegates who patiently listened
to the vast information shared with them.
Video at: http://www.youtube.com/user/
ugandansinuk
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Concerning the minimum and maximum
investment allowed for the Ugandans
in the Diaspora, Mr Wabulya gave the
following example: £100 a month totals
£1200 a year; during the recent inﬂation
where interest rates were as high as 25%,
Ugandans who would have invested
1million UgShs shillings would have
earned UgShs 250, 000. He stressed that
no other investment right now can offer
that amount of money anywhere in the
world.
Derrick started by saying that the
Diaspora, who sent money home with a
tune of
more than $768m in 2010, wanted to invest
in their own country’s manufacturing,
export, etc and that the actual ability
to do that was about 17% or 12%, and
that much ended up being invested in
subsistence only.
One delegate wanted to know the
mitigation measures taken against
faithless bankers that may manipulate the
rate only to reward the investor at a lower
rate than the actual rate of proﬁt.
Ug a n
Regarding threshold of investment, Mr
Wabulya said that currently, foreign
investors hold 15% of the government
stock of government securities. A foreign
investor can invest from as low as UgShs
100,000 without any maximum limit.

18.
Multi Sector Discussion:
Health, Agro- and Horticulture
An overview of investment opportunities in the Agriculture and Horticulture and and emerging
opportunities for Health professionals
The Moderator: Estella Makumbi
Panellists:
• Dr. Samuel Mugasi Chief executive
ofﬁcer of National Agricultural
Advisory Services (NAADS)
• Dr. Atwine Diana Kanzira director
of the medicines and health delivery
monitoring unit
• Mr. Deus Muhwezi assistant
commissioner
in
charge
of
agribusiness
• Dr. Sarah Nkonge Muwonge senior
private secretary, director of land
matters
• Mr. Donald Banks GCSED founder
and managing director.
Ms Makumbi invited Dr. Mugasi to tell
the delegates about the opportunities the
NAADS programme has for Ugandans in
the Diaspora.
He went on to say that NAADS is an
agency under the ministry of agriculture
in Uganda that is mandated with the
provision of agricultural extension and
advisory services. The agency helps
farmers access improved technologies
and beneﬁt from existing value chains.
If delegates were to invest in agriculture
in Uganda, they would beneﬁt from the
services of NAADS. Beyond the services,
the agency has a commercialisation
fund; funds offered to potential investors
on a competitive basis if they invest in
particular areas such as value addition.
NAADS has some limited funds put aside
for private public partnerships mainly
in the area of value addition this could
be in food, grain or dairy processing for
example. He informed delegates that if
they came to Uganda the agency will be
able to provide information on how to
beneﬁt from its services and how it can
support investors in their agricultural
investments. NAADS can also provide
information on potential enterprises. The
agency has carried out studies and can
provide advice on which enterprises to
invest in since the agency has statistics
and proﬁtability analyses done in this
area.
Ms. Makumbi thanked Dr. Mugasi for
his quick presentation and highlighted
the fact that the information on public
private partnerships was well received
by the delegates. She then invited Mr.
Deus Muhwezi to tell the delegates the
opportunities available to the Diaspora in
the agribusiness sector.
In addition to what the Hon. Minister said,
Mr. Muhwezi said that there are huge
investment opportunities in agribusiness
services such as banking and insurance,
warehousing, and food and confectionary
industry not only in Uganda but the entire
region.
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Dr. Mugasi thanked the moderator for the
introduction and started his presentation
by asking the delegates how many of
them would like to invest in agriculture
after listening to the minister’s speech.
Mr. Muhwezi acknowledged that the
minister for agriculture had already
adequately outlined most of the
investment opportunities available in the
agricultural sector. So he added that the
government on case by case basis has a
policy of public private partnerships in
which the government will support a
given project. The government also has
another policy called build, own, operate
and transfer; also done on a case by case
basis. Under this policy the government
can assist and partner with investors
to promote a given project especially
in agro-processing. Other incentives
available to investors include no export
taxes, tax exemptions if the investment
is in value addition in agro-processing or
products locally produced in Uganda(both
income and value added tax). Tax free
importation of machinery and equipment
for agricultural investments (value added,
agro processing) 30 kilometres outside
Kampala.
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Ms. Makumbi thanked Mr. Muhwezi
for his remarks and noted that value
addition was emphasised so she urged
delegates to add value to their produce
if they are to agriculture. She then
invited Dr. Sarah Nkonge Muwonge to
speak. She highlighted the fact that one
of the challenges faced in investing in
agribusiness is security of land tenure.
Ms. Makumbi then asked her to tell the
delegates how Ugandans in the Diaspora
can get around that as they try to invest
in Uganda.
for most of the different types of land;
mailo /freehold land, leasehold / public
land, communal/customary and bibanjas.
Bibanja owners complain against
landlords who they think are not putting
them into consideration when they sell
their land. Land lords also complain
against bibanja owners or squatters who
sell land without their permission. Other
problems include unlawful occupation or
acquisition of land through forged letters
of administration& wills, multiple sales
and fraudulent transfer of agreements
sales.
These problems may affect investors
but the government has put in place
ofﬁces that can work to overcome some
of these challenges and turn them into
opportunities. Dr. Nkonge Muwonge
noted that some of the land in question is
public land and about 5.1% of which is
unutilised leaving a balance of 3 million
capacity land. The best way to overcome
these problems is to get in touch with
the relevant ofﬁces such as the Uganda
land commission, the Uganda investment
authority and ofﬁces mandated by the
government such as the Land Fraud Unit,
Directorate of Land Matters and others.
At this point Ms. Makumbi the moderator,
interjected and asked Dr. Nkonge
Muwonge for clariﬁcation on what
investors can do or should do when faced
with the problems she mentioned, having
provided the relevant ofﬁces. Dr. Nkonge
Muwonge then advised delegates to go to
the ofﬁces she mentioned earlier if faced
with any land problems.
These are some of the problems investors
from the Diaspora might have to face. But
it has been found that there are complaints
Dr. Atwine introduced herself and
informed the delegates that her job is to
monitors health services in Uganda. She
stressed that despite the things that are
heard and seen in the news, there are good
things happening in the health sector in
Uganda. There are currently attempts to
put right the problems in the health sector
•
She told delegates that currently there
is medicine in all health facilities and
that they are welcome to visit any
health centre in the country to prove
that the medicine is indeed there.
•
There are several opportunities
available under manufacturing,
because 95% of the medicines used
in the Uganda are imported. So
there are investment opportunities
in the area of pharmaceuticals &
manufacturing for those interested.
•
In
terms
of
Infrastructural
development, the government is in
the process of revamping/ repair
and equip most of the hospitals but
there is still need for skilled labour
to operate this equipment and give
the expertise needed. These services
can be given by the private sector
with entrepreneurs putting up private
hospitals. Within the next two years it
is expected that ultramodern hospitals
capable of carrying out cardiothoracic
surgery and other highly specialised
procedures. In order to do that, she
encouraged individuals to come
and partner with the government to
provide these skills.
•
Under human resources, individuals
are needed not only to work in the
health facilities but to train Ugandans
and pass on the skills that they have.
She acknowledged that there have
been issues about incentives and
remuneration for health workers but
this is a process that the government
is working on.
•
In the last 5 years, the government
has expanded health facilities; at the
moment there are health facilities
at every parish all of which require
money and equipment. The next
phase is the government focusing
on human resource development,
acquiring highly skilled labour to
operate in the highly specialised
hospitals / health facilities that are
going to be set up. The government
is encouraging public private
partnerships in this area.
•
The government is planning on rolling
out health insurance once the policies
required are in place therefore skilled
labour in the ﬁeld of health insurance
are needed to provide expertise. This
is an area where labour is needed. She
assured delegates that jobs would be
available in this area.
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Dr. Nkonge Muwonge thanked Ms.
Makumbi for her introduction and
went on to say that the land tenure is
what discourages most investors in the
Diaspora. She noted that most delegates
present are absentee landlords who would
like to invest or utilise their land upon
returning home. Her ofﬁce has observed
several disputes regarding land as a
result of ignorance of the laws governing
the land, environment, inheritance and
family; misuse of power and social
status(politically
and
ﬁnancially);
decentralisation and creation of new
districts headquarters which has turned
land hitherto ignored as rural into prime
urban land; corruption by public servants
and forgeries by land grabbers.
The moderator thanked Dr. Nkonge
Muwonge for her contributions and asked
Dr. Atwine to tell the delegates about
the opportunities available in the health
sector.
so that investors can come to the country
with a sense of conﬁdence in the system.
Ug a n
He said Uganda already has a laborious
farming community so setting up a
nucleus farm or processing plant means
the investor has access to a hinterland
of out growers making it easier to
grow into production, processing and
marketing. For further information he
encouraged delegates to speak to him and
his colleagues after the panel and assured
them that contact details would be left
behind to facilitate further discussions and
give further information on the incentives
and opportunities available to investors
in the agricultural sector. He concluded
by thanking the delegates for listening to
him.

20.
•
•
There is need for investment in the
ﬁeld of research and development
for example vaccine development.
She stressed that Uganda is free
from Ebola contrary to reports in the
international press. Health workers
have been able to control the disease
but there is need for research on
such viruses and other diseases.
The scientists in the Diaspora were
invited to come home and carry out
this research and told that there is
government support available for
that.
In regard to e-health, government
has invested in and is rolling out an
e- health policy to enable doctors in
Uganda contact specialists in other
parts of the world. Skilled labour is
required to implement these plans.
Donald Banks from GCSED, whose
background
is
in
International
development, spoke about investment
opportunities in Uganda. He asserted that
commercial agriculture will be Uganda’s
saviour pointing out the fact there are
5.1 million hectares of agricultural
land of which 2.1 million are being
utilised. Of that number only 5% of it
is irrigated and can be used for food
production. He said that malnutrition
can be reduced by increasing food
production through irrigating the land an
increasing the amount of land available
for irrigation. 85% of Uganda’s labour
work in agriculture mainly subsistence.
He stressed that to improve agricultural
productivity skills development is the
answer. Commercial agriculture needs to
work with skills development to make the
situation better. His organisation has spent
the last 5 months negotiating the purchase
of 250,000 hectares of agricultural land
matched up with a skills development
programme for young men aimed at
ensuring that some of the allocation of
land goes to domestic production to
reduce malnutrition.
There is so much opportunity of
commercialising agriculture however
there are problems such as land. Enterprise
management programmes are needed to
encourage farmers to improve the quality
of their produce. Introduce co-operatives,
Questions:
The moderator then opened the panel
discussion to the house and the ﬁrst
delegate asked how the government
could help a prospective investor in the
poultry business? He was bafﬂed at how
a country like Uganda could be importing
poultry from Brazil and South Africa.
The second delegate simply suggested
that
the government establish
a
website where the latest information on
developments in the health sector are
provided since there was a lot that Dr.
Atwine wanted to say in an insufﬁcient
amount of time.
The last question was from Prof.
Fred Wabamba, a higher education
professional, who highlighted the fact
that most of the panellists mentioned the
need for skills in Uganda. However he
added that having decided to return home,
the people within the country were not
welcoming to members of the Diaspora
returning to Uganda. The process of
transferring his belongings to Uganda
took 9 months many of which were of no
use to him by the time they arrived. He
suggested that if the government really
requires the skills and knowledge that
members of the Diaspora have, then the
country should be more welcoming to
those members of the Diaspora returning
home.
The moderator thanked the delegates for
the questions and invited the panellists to
answer the questions.
In response to the ﬁrst question, one of
the panellists said that there is a huge
investment opportunity in the country and
region for poultry and poultry products
such as breeding one day old chicks most
of which are currently being imported.
There is government support depending
on the level of the investment, such
as free land and tax free importation
of equipment in the production and
processing of poultry. These incentives
are also available for the area of breeding.
Poultry is one of the enterprises mentioned
by the Hon. Minister earlier, identiﬁed
as one of the key areas both in the local
and regional markets. Animal feeds an
enterprise needed by the poultry subsector
is also one of the areas that qualify for
government support depending on the
scale of the project.
In regard to the third question, the speaker
of parliament appreciated the issues raised
by the delegate and promised to create a
small desk in the foreign affairs committee
to deal with the Diaspora speciﬁcally in
parliament. She also pledged to inform
the government that it has not done the
necessary to enable those in the Diaspora
to “land softly” when they return home.
The moderator thanked the speaker of
parliament for answering the question
very well and invited the Hon. Minister of
agriculture to give a few remarks on land
security and close the panel.
The minister thanked the moderator
and made two main points by way of
conclusion. He assured prospective
investors coming to Uganda of land
security for their investments in ranching
or commercial agriculture, in terms of
proper processing of land. He stated that
he did not expect the delegates to return
and join the peasantry, he expects large
scale production.
He welcomed investors to come and
invest in agriculture at various levels
depending on their preferences;
at
primary production, early value addition,
manufacturing, technology that promote
agriculture ,seed production, animal
vaccines, fertiliser. But high levels of
intervention are expected of prospective
investors given their experience, training
and opportunity. He concluded by
thanking the delegates for listening.
The moderator thanked the Hon.
Minister and the distinguished panel
for the information and advice given,
she also thanked the audience for being
very participative and involved in the
discussions that took place.
Video at: http://www.youtube.com/user/
ugandansinuk
Co n v en
UCU
United We Can
UK
Ug a n
an
on
ti
d
The moderator hoped that the ﬁrst
question was adequately answered and
went on to the second question; Dr.
Atwine offered to be the link between the
delegates and the health sector. She gave
her contact details as well as a 24 hour toll
free telephone number to those who had
any issues or question on the health sector
in Uganda but added that she was not
representing the ministry of health and
was acting in her capacity as a monitor.
There is a dashboard and call centre
that deal with all complaints concerning
service delivery. Her ofﬁce could be a link
to the ministry of health and other health
ofﬁces.
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Summary report | Comments and Evaluation | Action Plan